Three Cheers For Lily Evans
by BattyBigSister
Summary: The trails and tribulations of one Lily Evans, particularly as relating to one James Potter, as she finishes her final three years at Hogwarts. Some SevLily towards the start.
1. Chapter 1

I could go into a long diatribe about my inspiration for this story, but it would all be lies. There isn't any. I just wrote it, because I'm falling out of practice and it was better than writing my essay. I'll will see to it that it gets run through a spellchecker when I have access to one again.

Disclaimer: All characters, scenes and contents here seen are based on the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. No right are owned by the author of this story, nor was any permission granted, but the writing was at no point intended to be defamatory to any person or character and was produced solely for non-profit/money-making purposes.

Chapter 1 

Lily Harriet Evans stood with her back turned rather gracelessly to her mirror. She was hoping repeatedly from one foot to the next, while simultaneously twisting her arms over her shoulders as far as they would go in an effort to reach her zipper. So far she was bitterly unsuccessful.

"Give it up," Jocelyn Harkiss, her fellow fifth year Gryffindor, insisted from her position slumped on the bed directly in front of the amateur gymnastics session, where she lay stuffing the contents of a large box of assorted Honeydukes chocolates into her mouth two at a time. The bedclothes were already slightly smeared from chocolate crumbs and the soft feather mattress was bowed low from Jocelyn's considerable weight. "Just face it, Lily. You're never going to fit into that thing."

Lily sighed and gave up trying do pull the blue and white checked dungaree dress up behind her. Flicking her rather orange hair from her face, she folded her arms and regarded herself quizzically in the mirror. "Did Petunia get you a size too small again?" came a rather horse voice from the doorway. Gwendoline Wenlock, a fellow fifth-year and the second of Lily's two best friends, emerged through the dormitory door on the way back from the Gryffindor girl's bathrooms. She was clad in a rather out-grown blue dressing gown and had her short curley hair safely wrapped in a matching towel.

"More than just one, by the look of it," Lily nodded, starting to pull it from her shoulders. She was, as was well known, a rather overly curvacious if just short of tubby fifteen year old, "I wish she wouldn't always buy things in her own size." The redhead's face was covered in so many freckles it looked like it had been attacked with brown paint and there was the rather unfortunate hint of a double chin just noticeable if she tilted her head at the wrong angle. She was, if nothing else, the total opposite of her older sister, Petunia, who was dark-haired and resembled a permanent anorexic. Something that never failed to surprise Lily as she watched her shovel food into herself at family meals.

"You know," Jocelyn added thoughtfully, sitting up and putting away her now half-empty box of chocolates, "I sometimes swear she does it on purpose." Then she caught what she said and blushed furiously with her horrified hands over her mouth as she stared apologetically at Lily. "I'm sorry. That wasn't very kind."

"But it's probably true," the redhead replied with a rather cold shrug, tossing the garment on her bed as she rooted out the green robe she had been wearing before from the mess of books, parchment and quills that had spilled from her satchel in the meantime. It was no secret among the three friends that the sisters did not get on very well at home.

The knowledge of why was something that Lily's two best friends, both wizard-born themselves, found harder to understand. Jocelyn came from an extensive family herself, including several prosperous cousins in the other houses, but her two older brothers were so much older than her that they treated her more as something of a pet than a sister. Widely overstepping the weight limit that Lily so narrowly avoided, Jocelyn was a kind girl with rosy skin, misty grey eyes, a good heart, bad acne and a perchant for sweet chocolate that was happily fed by her doting relatives.

The idea of being slightly spoilt was something Gwendoline could easily have understood if she had ever been able to take a third person's perspective on herself. Underneath her haughty arrogant exterior however she still managed to be very warm-hearted and a deeply loyal friend. Particularly on those occasions when her rash temper had not led her into a fight. An only child and a proud Welsh woman on her mother's side, she never-the-less felt obliged to look after her father's name (which had apparently been born by a vaguely famous Artithmancer several hundred years ago) and bore some resemblance to Petunia with the shared affliction of slightly bucked front teeth and a natural disposition towards skeletal skinniness, accompanied by such colossal over-eating that it left her two friends quite jealous.

Nethertheless Gwendoline and the other young witch had both been incredulous at the idea that someone could be envious or resentful of someone else possessing magical power. To them, it was like being jealous that their sister possessed hair or two feet. Lily supposed that was why she liked them so much.

The mid-winter sun was swimming gently in washed out sky, bobbing between the few wisps of remaining cloud and sprawling in through the small tower window. Lily had left it open, as usual, so she could hear the faint echoes of bird song and the taste the sweet smell of the mountain breeze from the forest. Gwendoline, now safely back in the room, glared at her until she shut it again. They had already had countless discussions about the benefits of fresh air versus the draw-backs of it being winter and the temperature outside hovering over the zero mark. The round tower room was usually adorned with fresh flowers, usually by Jocelyn's doing, and little pieces of embroidary that the largest of the three girl loved to display and which complimented the red and gold features of the room rather nicely. Although Gwendoline had taken to inquiring why exactly her friend was trying to make their bedroom look like the Gryffindor version of a farmyard inn.

Once toweled down though, while Jocelyn was busy washing her face over by the waterjug, the Welsh girl took the liberty of examining Lily's new dress. "It's actually really nice," she exclaimed, with some justified surprise, "I never knew Petunia had it in her."

"Tell me about it," Lily grinned, stuffing her schoolbag with it's rightful contents, "It's so much nicer than that thing she got me last year."

"You mean that jumper?" her friend replied, turning the dress inside out for a decent look at the stitching, "The fushia one Emmaline Vance expanded for us so Josey could wear it instead?"

"It was a nice jumper," Jocelyn added, wiping a dirty blond strand of wet hair from her face, "I've still got it. And wear it too. Very warm." She nodded approvingly and adjusted one of her rose ribboned pig-tails. Jocelyn adored anything in a shade of pink, particularly if it had flowers.

"No," Lily corrected, as she bent to stow her satchel by her beside table, "That was the year before last. I mean the shawl."

"Oh good God. That thing?" Gwendoline frowned at at the memory, as she folded the dress and put it neatly on Lily's bed. "Didn't we burn it in the end?"

"Nearly," Jocelyn shrugged, as Lily stood up and dusted herself down, "But then I think one of the first years wanted it to line her cat bas…"

There was a deathly silence. The sort of deathly silence that is generally known to follow a very large explosion. Slowly as the horrible smell of cinders filled the air Lily reanimated herself, grabbed her wand and darted from the dormitory, Jocelyn hot on her heels. Gwendoline made a move as if too follow, but stopped at the door, flung herself out of her dressing gown and hastened back to her bed to grab a robe and some underwear. While this saved her dignity, she missed all the action.


	2. Chapter 1b

The common room was immersed in a cloud of acidic smelling smoke. Frightened students were piling up the staircases, waving hands and books in front of their faces or hiding their mouths under any piece of fabric they could find. Lily fought her way through the frantic thong, a sleeve pressed firmly over her mouth and her wand held stretched out in front of her. A desperate sixth year slammed into her on the last few steps and pushed past with a barely muttered apology, but Lily dived between two skittish third years and emerged coughing underneath an upturned sofa near the fireplace. She crawled out cautiously, still clutching her wand, and stood up. After a moment in which she adjusted her robes and dusted herself down, Lily found that her stinging eyes had begun to make some sense of the gloom around her.

The fire had gone out, but the smoke that curled around the room had a greenish and slightly sparkly quality. It smelt odd too. Not far away Jocelyn emerged from the now deserted stairway and hurried over to her, a fresh cotton handkerchief plastered over most of her hand. Pressing her sleeve tighter over her mouth, Lily held her wand further aloft.

"Lumos," she muttered. The command did very little, but through the slight increase in light a squinting Lily thought she could make out some figures among the thicket of the smoke in the centre of the room. Wordlessly, she grabbed her friend's hand and proceeded forwards, her wand still held cautiously before her.

"Nice one, Wormy. Now do you think you could open a window?" a slightly muffled voice demanded from its position in an armchair.

"Yeah, okay, sure, I can do that," Something large crawled out from a table beside Lily's legs. She trot rather viciously on it's fingers.

"_Yeeauch!_"

"Can somebody tell me what on earth is going on here?" Lily demanded, striding forwards and poking her wand right in the middle of the figure on the armchair.

It turned out to be a rather bemused Sirius Black, reclined nonchalantly in a somewhat diagonal position with his feet resting on a few cushions stacked on the floor. He was tall, well-built, if a little gangly and had a rather effeminate nose and cheekbones. His black hair, Lily remembered because she certainly couldn't see that much of it, was half-long, in as far as it fell into his eyes and covered his ears, and usually very sleek and shiny, although riddled with split ends.

He batted the wand away with a grin and sat up. "Why sorry Evans… it is Evans, right?" he mused sardonically. "Good old Peter here," He waved a hand loosely to where a small round pastry-faced boy with a thin mess of very pale brown hair sat sucking his hand and staring reproachfully at Lily. Jocelyn reached down as if to help him with it, but he snatched his hand away, blew a raspberry at the very surprised girl and scampered back under the table. Sirius grunted a laugh at this as he continued, "Accidently let off this bag of Filibuster's exploding spark bombs. Unfortunately they're intended strictly for use in wide open spaces, so the effects were rather interesting. We didn't disturb you, did we?" He paused and raised his eyebrows at her in apparent concern.

Lily responded by jamming her wand straight into the bridge of his nose, forcing him to fall back against the armchair in alarm. "Didn't disturb me?" she repeated incredulously, her voice somewhat hoarse from the smoke, "Didn't disturb me? You've successfully smoked out the common room, trashed half the furniture and created a bang loud enough to have rocked most of Gryffindor Tower – and you're wondering whether or not you _disturbed_ me?"

"That would be it, yes," Sirius replied, carefully sliding his thumb and forefinger onto Lily's wand so that he pluck it out of his face for the second time. "I would hate to think we had interrupted your important…" he paused, his brow slightly furrowed in thought, "Whatever it is you girls get up to up there."

Lily could feel herself shaking with rage."You mean little…"

"Now, now, Evans," came a voice behind her and a hand caught her rising wand-arm and pulled it away from Sirius, "You know, it really isn't very nice to threaten people like this. I'm surprised at you."

As Jocelyn screamed, it only took Lily a moment to spin on her heel and catch her assailant a stinging slap across the cheek. A rather stunned James Potter, also somewhat tall but skinny with unruly black hair and thick wire-framed glasses, drew back, his hand tentatively touching a red mark just below his eye.

"Careful Evans," he snapped, "That hurt!"

"Well maybe next time you'll know that I don't just threaten then," Lily breathed angrily, tossing a few stray stands of ginger hair from her face. "Now then, lets see," she fingered her wand threateningly as she drew back. To her surprise, the smoke cleared around her. From the corner of her eye she noticed that her fellow fifth year Prefect, Remus Lupin had successfully opened a window and cast a spell to draw the smoke outside.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor for all three of you for the disruption you've caused and an extra ten, for all three, for the possession of banned fireworks," she recited, drawing herself upright and extinguishing her wand as she replaced it inside her robes, "And when I come back this evening I had better find Gryffindor Tower returned to the condition it was before your exploits today or I shall see all three of you in detention, understood?"

"Yes, McGonagall," Sirius muttered sourly, sitting up.

"What was that, Black?" Lily snarled, turning around to face him.

"Yes, Miss Evans," he repeated in slightly louder voice, standing up and making rather a mocking show of fluffing out some cushions, "Whatever you command." Jocelyn scowled at him, her arms folded. James looked as if he had eaten something that didn't agree with him.

"By this evening," Lily repeated cooly, "And Josey, see to it that they don't make anyone else clean up instead. Now if you don't mind, I think I should like to get on with the rest of my birthday – unless you've got plans to ruin anymore of it." She stalked forward and slammed the portrait hole behind her as she left.

Peter crawled out from under his table and blew a raspberry at the closed painting. Jocelyn glared at him.

"So that was Evans," James mused thoughtfully.

"Yep," Sirius snapped, flopping back down into his chair, "Lily Evans, perfect Prefect and prissy cow extrordinaire. Buzz off, Harkiss…" He waved his hand irritably towards where Jocelyn was puffing herself up in an attempt to assert her friend's authority.


	3. Chapter 1c

Lily paused on her way down the steps deeper into Hogwart's Dungeons. One hand rested on the cold wall and she could actually feel small growths of moss beneath her fingers. This part of the Castle Dungeons was so disused it had actually fallen slightly into disrepair. There weren't many portraits and the air had a rather damp smell to it. Never-the-less Lily strained her ears and turned to face the darkness behind her, listening for anyone who might be following her.

Slowly, she took a step backwards. Then another. Satisfied that she was alone, she spun around and raced down the corridor, yanked open the door of an abandoned classroom and threw herself inside, collapsing in a panting heap against the old wood.

The sweet smell of roses beckoned. Lily raised her head and found herself standing on a small carpet of white and red rose petals that ran all the way from the door to the blackboard. More of the same flowers had been hung from the benches and on the walls and little golden canaries were swooping merrily across the ceiling. As she watched, a smile spreading over her face with all the warmth of the sun, an old gramophone on the teacher's desk clicked into life and started to play a classic muggle lovesong about a sixteenth birthday.

She giggled and ran a few steps forwards, stopping to sweep up some petals from the floor and press them against her nose, drinking in the sweet smell. Laughing she tossed them above her head, spinning in a happy little dance as they settled again like rain about her. "It's beautiful," she sang, still grinning.

"You really like it?" came a nervous voice behind her. Severus Snape, a thin rather undernourished-looking fifth year with dark eyes that Lily adored and soft black hair that usually needed washing, detached himself rather awkwardly from the shadows. His hands were aimlessly fiddling with the fabric of his robes and he looked rather flushed and possibly slightly faint.

Lily spread her arms and hurtled into his, enveloping him with all the love and joy in her heart. "It's amazing," she whispered, kissing him. His face lit up like a beacon. His arms pushed their way forwards and fastened themselves around her as he pulled her tightly against him and kissed her back with all the passion in his heart. It was wet and sticky and they bumped noses a few times, but they both felt alive and glowed with the heat of each other's flushed faces. Lily closed her eyes and felt a blissful happiness overtake her.

"I'm glad you like it," Severus breathed, as they broke apart, "I was worried you wouldn't."

"Now how could you think that?" she admonished gleefully, tapping him gently on the shoulder, "It's like I've walked into fairytale."

"Took me hours," he grinned, rubbing his nose against hers, "Had to look up all the right charms for those roses."

"Yes, I can see." She kissed him again and buried herself tightly in his neck. He bent his own head and gently planted wayward kisses in her hair, raising one hand so that he could occasionally stroke it in between.

How long they stayed like that neither of them really knew, but eventually Lily detached herself and gingerly stepped through the benches until she was once again standing on the petal carpet, her arms stretched out as if too touch the birds above her. Severus gave a slight wave of his wand and one little ball of gold swept from the sky and landed on Lily's outstretched fingers. She laughed and cradled it against her chest, stroking the soft little feathers in delight.

"How did you do it?" she asked, cooing as she brought it up to her face for a closer look, "They are so life-like."

"Magic," he replied, smirking as he sat down on one of the benches to watch her. He kicked his robe out of the way as he crossed his legs and leant back, supporting himself on his arms, his eyes never leaving Lily. "It's what it's there for," he explained happily, watching her let the little bird take flight again and race it to the end of the benches, "Making dreams come true."

Lily smiled at him. "You must have worked hard," she beamed, prancing towards him with her arms outstretched and her hips swaying suggestively, "I don't think we've covered any of these in class."

"We haven't," he replied, kicking his legs apart again, "As I said, I looked it all up. You've been my research project for the last few weeks."

"Did you transfigure the birds?" Lily asked, staring up at them, "What did you use?"

"Actually, it's a charm," Severus replied, sitting up and swinging his arms forwards, "I think it's on the Sixth Year Syllabus."

Lily glanced down immediately, her eyes a fire of intrigue. "Really?" she gasped, "What's the spe…" But Severus had caught her around the waist and pulled her onto his lap. His lips found hers again before she even had a chance to protest. They kissed again and Lily cradled his face in her hand as she pushed her tilted head closer and closer into him. Her entire body felt alive with fire, as she felt his hands caress the curves of her waist with an almost reverent hesitancy. The gramophone slowed to a halt and stopped, Severus detached a hand to restart it with his wand, but Lily caught it before he had a chance. She shook her head gently at his surprised glance. "I like it like this," she whispered, "Just you and me and the birdsong."

He smiled and cradled her against his chest, his chin resting on her shoulder. After a moment, he paused, drew back slightly to pull a small parcel wrapped awkwardly in brown paper from the inside of his battered school robes.

"Happy Birthday, Lily," he muttered in her ear.

Surprised, she took it from him and ran a finger under the many pieces of sellotape to loosen the paper. After a few seconds a blue velvet box slid neatly into her lap. A frown fell over Lily's face as she picked it up and examined it at eye-level. Severus nudged her gently with his arm and lily lowered it again slightly. Cautiously, she prized the little lid open. Inside sat a sparkling silver necklace with initials 'L E'.

"Do you like it?" he inquired gently, tilting his head to allow his eyes to search for hers. When he found them, they weren't smiling. He reached out to touch her arm, but she drew away, turning instead to face him. There was an odd frown about her face.

"How could you afford this?" she asked, her eyes dropping back to the sparkling necklace, "It looks awfully expensive…"

"Don't you like it?" he repeated, drawing away from her and sounding a little worried.

"How could you afford something like this?" she persisted, waving the box gently in the air, "It's beautiful…"

His face went cold. With a jolt, he pushed her off his lap and stood up. "Are you saying I can't ever give you anything beautiful?" he demanded, growling at her, "Have you never liked anything I got for you, is that it?"

"No," she stuttered, looking shocked, "I never…"

"I'm sorry, I thought I'd try and get you something nice," he snapped, pushing past her and charging towards the door, "I'm sorry you don't like it."

"Severus," Lily cried, flinging herself forwards. She caught him as he approached the door and bowled him to the ground. His stiff and unmoving body sat like ice beneath her, as she gripped him tightly and sobbed into his hair. "Please don't go! Please! I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I do like it… please…"

It took a while for him too soften. Eventually though, he swallowed and his arms reached down under her armpits to pull her back up to his face. He stroked a few stands of ginger hair out of her eyes and gave her a rather nervous smile. She returned it through a slightly reddened, teary face.

"I love you, Lily," he muttered, kissing her briefly.

"I know," she replied, rather more croakily than she otherwise might, "I love you too." He kissed her again and their hands roamed freely over each other's bodies as they explored. Eventually his found a perch a little higher on her chest, but she had never objected before and she didn't start now either.


	4. Chapter 2

So, I'm already in the second chapter and I've still had no reviews? Auch. I know I'm out of practice and the plot does seem rather generic (What cannon L/J story isn't?), but is it really that bad? Surely someone must at least have read it. I'm feeling rather let down… Oh well.

**Chapter 2**

"So for your homework I expect a four and a half foot essay on transfiguring vertebrae into household crockery by Monday," McGonagall droned, pushing her glasses back up her nose with a bony finger as she returned to her position at the front of the class, a box of teapots that in some cases still had a noticeable hint of fur, "You will find Pages 147 to 152 in your textbooks very useful, but any direct copying will be met with the appropriate punishment. You may go." She turned to put the box safely away in her desk. In the third row, by the window, Lily flipped her notebook shut and stuffed it into her back, elbowing a slightly vacant-looking Jocelyn out of a pen-sucking stupor.

"Well, that was interesting, I thought," Gwendoline declared on her right, swinging her satchel over her shoulder. "Do you think there will be anything helpful in the library? Transfiguring vertebrae is so likely to come up in our O.W.L.s I want make sure I've revised it properly."

"Personally, I thought those guinea pigs were very cute," Lily agreed, swinging herself from the bench and standing beside her friend, as Jocelyn hurried to stuff her things back among the clutter in her bag. "It felt like a shame to transfigure them. I wouldn't have minded keeping one as a pet." Around them the classroom was a cacophony of noise from their fellow Gryffindors, but the teacher herself was safely ensconced in discussion with sandy-haired prefect Remus Lupin and for once did not seem to take much notice.

"Your cat would eat it, Lily-dear," Gwendoline grunted, nudging her in the ribs, "Either that or give the poor thing a heart attack, stalking it and rattling its cage in the middle of the night. Using it as a new toy ball."

Lily snorted a laugh and let herself fall back onto one of the desks in the row behind her to allow Jocelyn room to stand up. "True," the redhead grinned, "I might as well drop it in the cat bowl and have done with it." It was a well known fact that Lily's hyperactive tom, Paws, was in the habit of pouncing on anything that moved, chasing it across the room until it disappeared into some distant corner under the furniture never to be seen again or else mauling it beyond all human recognition. The girls had by now even removed the red velvet drapes from their beds to save them from being shredded by industrious cat claws every time a breeze blew in through the window.

"So, how about we meet in the library after lunch?" Gwendoline suggested as she strode out into the gangway, the others following like a pack of lambs, "I want to see if I can find any decent books on transfiguration before the others snap them up!" Jocelyn groaned loudly at this and shook her head vigorously. Transfiguration was her pet hate among all her lessons at Hogwarts and she dreaded every minute spent in activity relating to it. Occasionally her friends speculated if this was more due to her being slightly afraid of McGonagall than any actual ineptitude for the skill. Jocelyn point black refused to go near the teacher unless she had too, but at the end of the year they usually found her results quite passable.

"Why Gwen?" Lily, who also did not include transfiguration in her favourite subjects, retorted mockingly, "You'll only leave the books untouched until Sunday evening, then skim desperately through the index at the last minute and not get very much useful out of them anyway."

The Welsh girl looked embarrassed for a second and then smirked playfully at Lily over Jocelyn's shoulder. "You never know," she chirped sarcastically in a tone designed to irritate the redhead, "I might get very bored during charms and decide to revise instead." She blew a raspberry at her.

Lily snorted in disgust and feigned reaching for her wand. Her friend just giggled and made a mad dash towards the door. Jocelyn, turning round wildly in surprise, caught sight of Lily's expression and hurried to catch her up, with her ginger-haired friend darting along behind her.

It was as she passed the last bench before the door that Lily felt something odd happen. A hand grabbed the handle of her satchel, arresting her in mid-run. There was a horrible whine of tearing leather and Lily felt her feet skid on the floor, sending her thumping into the desk beside her.

"Are you alright, Miss Evans?" came a concerned McGonagall, as Lily lay sprawled on the ground, rubbing her sore head. The girl's eyes were fixed directly in front of her, at the person sitting in that bench, the one who must have grabbed her. There wasn't anyone else in reach and she was sure she had felt or seen… or something… She watched him slowly replace his hand on the desk. To her annoyance there wasn't even a trace of emotion on his face. He did not so much as hint at an apology for accidently tripping her up or gloat at a deliberate prank. He was just looking at her. The imbecile.

"Yes, I'm fine," Lily mumbled, getting to her knees and grabbing her split satchel without looking at it. The contents had spilt all over the floor. Several of her schoolbooks had become badly scuffed, one of her inkbottles had smashed all over her upturned pencil.

"Did you trip?" the deputy headmistress asked again. She was coming round the benches to where Lily lay, a startled Remus following her like a lapdog.

The question made the girl pause slightly. Her eyes fixed onto her assailant again. His remaining friends were peering round him from the surrounding benches, stealing anxious glances at Lily. "I suppose," she finally replied, a few seconds later than she might have done.

"Are you sure you don't want to go to the Hospital Wing?" McGonagall put in again. She had now reached Lily and bent to help her gather up her scattered equipment.

"Yes, I'm sure. Thank you." Embarrassed Lily tore her eyes away and started snatching books up from the floor, forcing them into the remnants of her bag.

"Well, if you say so," McGongall shrugged and gave her a smile, as she handed her back a repaired ink bottle. Remus had sorted out of her pencil case. "You had better hurry along then," she added in a sterner tone of voice, "Or you shall be late for your next class."

"Thank you," Lily rose, taking the last of her things from Remus and headed over towards the door where her concerned friends were already waiting. "What happened?" Gwendoline asked, taking her arm and noticing the split schoolbag as she steered her through the door, "Is everything okay?"

"Were you hurt?" that was Jocelyn, who was reaching out to take her things from her. Unfortunately Lily never had time to reply, because at that moment her assailant spoke.

"Hey, Evans!" came the voice of James Potter.

Lily turned slowly. He was leaning in the doorway of the transfiguration classroom surrounded by his fellow Gryffindor males. One of them, the smallest standing just behind James, appeared to be hidden behind several towering schoolbags. The other two had gone slightly ahead and seemed as surprised by the interruption as Lily's own friends, who stared around the party in bewilderment.

"I wanted to ask how the rest of your birthday was yesterday," James threw in casually, pushing himself of the door, "After we ruined it?"

"Fine. Thank you," Lily replied curtly, rather nonplussed.

"That's great then!" James suddenly flashed her a broad grin that caught her rather off guard and marched off, his friends dissipating in his wake. Only Remus managed a polite wave and a 'See you' before he disappeared around the corner.

"What an odd person," Jocelyn declared, rather awkwardly scratching her head with her arms full of Lily's belongings.


	5. Chapter 2b

After a very uncomfortable lunch that Saturday, Lily gradually made her way down to the lake. She had caught James Potter staring blankly at her while she tried to eat her Shepherds Pie. It wouldn't have bothered her, except for the fact that he'd made her worry if she had spilt food on her new scarf. It had been a birthday present, hand-made, from her mother and she had been trying to keep it nice. After you've self-consciously checked your clothing several times you do become rather acutely aware of the fact that someone is _still_ gawping at you. It does somehow detract from the flavour of food. It had taken Lily several raised eyebrows and shakes of the head to attract his attention, but her mouthed 'What?' had only been met with James promptly turning his back on her to talk to his friend Black.

It had been dessert that had clinched it though. Until that point, events had merely been bizarre. It could all have passed for just one of those odd little occurrences that just seem to happen sometimes. Potter might have been said just to have drifted off in thought and Lily would have had no cause to go stamping her worn-out patent shoes through the muddy snow as if it had done her personal wrong. It was then that they turned tragic. Just as Lily turned to ask Gwendoline for the bread-and-butter pudding, she felt it; cold and slimy, dripping through her hair. Why James had decided to use his spoon to catapult strawberry jelly at her Lily would never know, but he had not even had the decency to hide his guilt. Instead he sat there, sniggering among his friends, as Lily made a desperate attempt to clean herself up with a napkin. Feeling herself go red with embarrassment and Gwendoline storming up in a tower of rage beside her, the girl had fled – abandoning her food – and raced back to Gryffindor Tower to change.

To top it all, he had made her late. She had been due at the lake fifteen minutes ago and she hated being unpunctual. The person she was due to meet hated it even more and that made it worse, because she knew he would grow impatient and angry if he had to wait. There was a very good chance she would turn up to find him already gone.

So it happened that although it was an unusually bright and sunny day for the first day of February and there were definite chirrups of birdsong from the forest, Lily was currently in the sort of mood that could kill a bloodthirsty giant at fifty paces. Her second favourite blue robe was sodden with slush where it emerged under her gray duffel coat and it slapped uncomfortably against her equally drenched woollen stockings as she charged forwards, her home-knitted hat and scarf pinned into place by her hands.

Eventually she reached a small dip in the earth on the far side of the lake. There were a few straggling bushes providing a semblance of privacy if one crouched low enough against the ground and any snow there may have been was already worn away by use. Severus however was not seated. He stood in his usual ill-fitting black school robes, clutching his schoolbag with the look of someone who had just got up to leave.

"Wait," Lily cried, flinging herself forwards in an effort to be better visible to him. She lost her footing and toppled forwards onto her knees, "I'm here. Don't go. Please!"

His black eyes were dark and pitiless as he stared down at her, panting in the grubby snow tracks before him. He looked furious. "You're late," he snapped, folding his arms across his worn-out satchel, "I thought you wanted to be here as much as me. Perhaps I was mistaken?"

"You weren't," Lily gasped, sitting up, "I do. It was just that toerag Potter causing a scene at dinner. He held me up."

"Potter? The Gryffindor Potter?" Severus's voice seemed to have an icy chill, "What did he want with _you_?" His eyes bored so hard into Lily's she felt startled and was almost tempted to look away.

"Nothing," she replied slowly, rubbing her hair back out of her face with her clammy mittens, "Nothing. He was just hurling food around. I had to change my robe and scarf before I came out. I'm sorry. I couldn't help it. I looked a state. Sorry."

The name Severus uttered made Lily wince, but he bent down and took her arm, pulling her back onto her feet. "Alright then," he said slowly. His hands, red-raw from the cold, traced the curve of her face and pulled the woollen hat from her head, letting her soft red hair fall around her face. His expression had mellowed too. It was now just a soft contemplation as he gazed intently at her features. She could tell his rage had abated, "You're forgiven, but you don't want to know what I'll do to that Potter when I find him."

"Oh, I shouldn't worry," Lily laughed, relief washing over her, as she let her head slide forwards against her boyfriend's shoulder, "I'm fairly sure Gwenie gave him an ear-bashing he won't forget in a hurry. She can give people nightmares."

"Still," Severus sighed, breathing into her hair, "People who keep my Lily from me should learn how to pay."

Lily giggled happily, but her smile faded after a moment and she felt herself starting to frown. She looked up at him, a puzzled look on her face. "You don't mean that _too_ literally do you?" she asked slowly, letting her hands slide onto his thin elbows. She had never known Severus to have too much flesh on him. "I mean, you're not going to do anything we'll both regret?"

His face remained impassive. "You're my Lily," he told her simply, "There is nothing to regret about that."

"I suppose…" she shrugged and he took her hand, pulling off her soaking mittens so that he could entwine his fingers with hers as they sat down together in the groove in the ground. She leant against his shoulder and carefully pulled off her shoes and stockings. The chilly winter air bit against her damp skin, but she stretched her feet out into the weak sunshine and wriggled her toes in the emerging warmth. In front of them the lake sparkled like a giant blue jewel in the snow. Its deep waters were motionless and its surface untouched except for the shadow of the occasional wisp of pearly cloud above. There was a bird singing quite close by and the wind was gently ruffling the branches of the bracken beside them, like a lovely parent fluffing up the pillows for bed.

Severus watched her silently, letting the sunshine and the birdsong and the sheer joy of her presence flood over him like golden nectar. Her hat and mittens were still gripped tightly in the hand that was not being caressed by hers. "Where do you think we'll live, Lily?" he asked at length, "When we're married and away from here? Spinner's End?"

Surprised Lily looked up from contemplating the nearby rushes. "No," she muttered, then, "Oh, I don't know. Somewhere. Gwenie's always harping on about visiting the big city when she's older, though I'm never entirely sure Cardiff counts – and Josey wants nothing more than a little house in the country, with chickens and pigs…"

Severus nodded, "They would suit her perfectly."

"Sev!" Lily tutted and tapped his arm playfully with her free hand, "That wasn't very nice."

"What?" the boy laughed, leaning back against the ground, "You can't deny the resemblance is uncanny, with that squashed-in face and that…"

"Severus," Lily admonished, but she lay back beside him all the same.

He turned and gazed down at the face that was staring up at him from his shoulder. "You shall live in a mansion of course," he told her gently, "Or a townhouse… or a castle. We could refurbish one and live there. Nothing but the best for my Lily."

"Oh, Sev…" Lily sighed and nuzzled closer into him.

"Well hee-_llo_," screeched a shrill voice behind then, making them both jump out of their skins, "Why if it isn't young Severus and deary deary me… I think he's found a friend. Who's your little friend, Severus? Shant you introduce us? Mhmmm? Isn't that polite?"

They turned as one, breaking apart as if electrified. Helplessly they stared at the figure of Bellatrix Black sweeping towards them. A fourth year Slytherin, she nonetheless held a large proportion of the school in an iron grip of fear. Lily could never recall seeing her in the company of friends, but she didn't seem to need them. She prowled Hogwarts like a rabid wolf, ready to pounce on any straggling victim she could get her claws in. There were rumours that she was the recipient of a steady stream of extorted pocket money from the first and second years and even nastier ones about some of the younger muggle-borns and some nasty burn and spell marks. She gave Lily the creeps and without even noticing the redhead had gotten into the habit of avoiding her company like the plague. Even in classes she chose a seat as far from her as she could.

"Hello Bellatrix," Severus grunted coldly, standing up and folding his arms. Lily's hat and mittens lay abandoned on the ground by his feet. Looking up at him, the redhead wondered when he had gotten on first name terms with the other girl. Then, she supposed, they were in the same house…

"Ohh Severus," Bellatrix crooned, leaning closer. Her long mane of black hair hung matted and unbrushed around would otherwise have been a very beautiful face. Lily also knew that if had been able to afford a robe that elegant she would definitely have chosen a size bigger. As it was Bellatrix's black-clad figure was outlined rather tightly against the red fur lining of her cloak. "Dear me, Severus," she simpered in an altogether nasty way, leaning closer as if to get a closer look at Lily. "But isn't that one of the Gryffindors? What are you doing with a Gryffindor, Severus?" Lily glanced up towards Severus for reassurance, but his face was entirely impassive. The redhead found herself drawing back almost involuntarily. It made her tormenter laugh.

"Now Severus," Bellatrix continued, straightening up, "You wouldn't want to associate yourself with a Gryffindor, would you Severus? It doesn't do to hang around with that sort, does it Severus? You know what they are." Her voice grew suddenly colder and harsher, "_Bloodtraitors_ and _mudbloods_."

The last word made Lily jerk upright; her hands shaking at her sides. She knew only too well what that meant. It was the crude term for someone of non-wizarding parentage, someone 'muggle'-born, like herself.

Bellatrix raised an eyebrow at her. "Didn't you like that, Gryffindor?" she cooed, "Well, didn't you? You're not a mudblood yourself, are you? Surely _Severus_ would not hang around with mudbloods?"

Lily turned, fixing on Severus's cold motionless face. She wished he would do something, say something, to defend her or to make Bellatrix go back to the castle. Something other than just standing there, looking for all the world as if he could not hear or see Bellatrix's taunting.

"Did you hear me, Gryffindor?" Bellatrix snapped, spinning Lily back around to face her more effectively than if she had hit her. "I asked you if you were a filthy, dirty, scum-infested mud…" Her hand drew forward, she looked as if she was going to hit Lily or yank at her hair, but then finally Severus's arm shot out. His fingers closed on Bellatrix's wrist and pulling it away from where it could any harm to the shaking Lily.

"Perhaps you had better go, Bellatrix," he whispered coldly.

She looked up at him in surprise; then straightened up. "Perhaps I had," she agreed, "But maybe, Severus, you had better come to. They're asking for you at any rate." He nodded curtly and she skulked a few yards away, then turned back; her hand on her hips and her beady eyes clearly watching to see if Severus followed.

"I had better go," he murmured, snatching up his bag and trotting a few steps forwards.

"Sev," Lily gasped, reaching forward to seize his arm, "Sev? Why? What's going on? What does she want from you?"

He turned and regarded her coolly. For a moment Lily was sure she could see the regret in those dark eyes. "I've got to go," he repeated and left, leaving her to stand there, surrounded by her abandoned belongs, alone in the snow.


	6. Chapter 3

A million thanks to HGHPlove4ever15 for both her reviews. It was amazing to discover that this story is actually being read by someone other than me and my WordPad. Thank you. Apologies for lateness. My personal circumstances have been rather unforgiving.

**Chapter 3**

It was another cool afternoon in the Dungeons classroom. The air churned around the busy students with the heavy sulphuric tang of long terms full of badly-prepared potions. There was little noise except the muttered recital of ingredients and the rustling of pages in the murky torchlight.

Lily was bent low over her cauldron, both hands tightly gripping the giant ladle as she carefully turned the soupy mixture first one way and then the other. Her face was taut with careful concentration. Open on the charred desk beside her was her Potions Textbook, filled with Severus's careful annotations and advice. He usually looked over the instructions for their potions work several weeks in advance and filled in anything he thought needed amending. The system meant that Lily, an otherwise reasonably fair potions-maker, rose to joint top of the class with her boyfriend and won the dubious honour of being known as one of their Potionmaster Slughorn's favourite students. She returned the favour by helping Severus with Charms; a lesson she enjoyed and out-performed him in. It often occurred to her that he was not at all bad at the subject itself, but did not do as well as he might because he seemed chronically disinterested in most of the lesson. He described it as a lot of pointless wand-waving with brightly coloured sparks.

Of course, they did not take Charms together, but it hardly mattered. In their first year, they had happily sat next to each other in potions and swapped ingredients and passed notes under the desk. That had however soon died out. In the present climate it was nigh on impossible to carry on that sort of fraternisation. Too many people in Slytherin, Snape's House, had links to the DeathEaters – a violent vigilante group, responsible for an ever greater number of brutal attacks on 'Muggle' and 'Muggle-born' (Non-Wizards and Wizards born to Non-Wizards) across the country. Not wishing to attract the wrong sort of attention to herself or Severus (who's father was also a Muggle), Lily sat on the opposite side of the classroom to her boyfriend and barely spoke to him at all during lessons. It wasn't even something she thought about anymore. It was just the way things were.

One of her hands gild purposefully over the bank, her fingers reaching over the book to seize a small bottle of Wormwood essence that she had placed at the ready. It appeared to be absent. Lily's head snapped up from her potion. Unluckily the sudden movement also made her sleeve veer sideways, straight across a freshly chopped selection of mongoose bladder. She groaned.

"Josey? Mind if I use the bottle too?" she grunted while trying to clean her slimy sleeve and keep on stirring at the same time. "Quickly, before I lose count."

Jocelyn jumped up guiltily at the desk beside her, narrowly avoiding having her face sprayed with Wormwood. She clutched the bottle careful against her bosom, blushing furiously. "I just can't figure out if it's three drops of this or four," she muttered, "Sorry."

"Two and one knob of butter," Gwendoline put in, from where she was carefully preparing a dark purple concoction opposite them. Jocelyn looked faintly worried, as the other girl grinned wickedly at them and grabbed the slab of chopped bladder.

"Three, Josey," Lily reassured her friend, "Can I have the bottle, this needs to be before the fifteenth stro…"

There was a patter on the table. Lily glanced down. A dried kneazle claw had materialised on the table. There was another patter and one of them landed on the flagstones by Lily's feet. Pausing, she glanced briefly over her shoulder. Potter was sitting on his bench, his head resting on his palms, grinning at her. Beside him, his clearly neglected potion appeared to be smoking slightly.

Lily felt her spirits sink. A cold lump of dread slid down her throat until it sat very heavily in her stomach. Turning rather listlessly, she waved her hand vaguely towards the waiting Jocelyn just as a third kneazle claw stuck her ponytail. With the required amount of drops and a sprinkle of crushed rosemary, she brought her potion up to a point where it merely needed to simmer for few moments, all the while ignoring the continual onslaught of disembodied kneazle parts. Jocelyn and Gwendoline who had by this point caught up on events, were shooting perplexed and angry glances at the bench behind them while one attempted to fold pieces of bladder into the dark red mixture beneath her and the other badly shredded thistles to add into hers.

The seventh claw hit Lily's elbow and she jerked forwards, snatching it from the rim of her cauldron seconds before it fell into her potion ruining the lot. The giant pot rocked unsteadily over the fire and she eyed the sloshing mixture inside worriedly, afraid of spillage and what the excess stirring might do to the careful balance of preparation required to get her an 'Outstanding' grade for this lesson. Her gaze fell on the solitary claw squeezed between her thumb and forefinger. Wordlessly she turned on her heel and marched up towards the set of benches behind her.

Potter sat up as she approached. "Evans!" he cried, grinning roguishly, "How _lovely_ to see you!" Beside him Sirius Black, who had been asleep under his text book, peered out from beneath the pages. He gave her an enthusiastic wave and swept the book onto his practically empty desk in front of him. Even Pettigrew leered at her from over the top of his mangled mongoose bladder. Only Remus Lupin showed any signs of apprehension; his head darting up only for long enough to give her a brief nod, before he returned to shredding his thistles with an intensive fervour that seemed to suggest that for the time being his entire existence was confined to thistles and thistles alone – and definitively not whatever Potter was about to unleash on his fellow Gryffindor.

Lily held out her hand, waving the claw under James potter's nose. He frowned at it, for all the world as if he had never seen it before.

"A little early for gifts, Evans," he suggested, smirking, "My birthday's not until March."

"I merely thought," she growled, her voice containing an icy chill, "That I might return this to you. You appear to be losing them." Sirius Black raised his eyebrow at Potter, which made the other one shift nervously.

"Kneazle claws?" he laughed, rather too loudly, and let his head roll back with it in a manner Lily found annoying.

"Yes," she retorted coolly, not moving a muscle. Behind James, Pettigrew mimicked her nastily, which made Black snort with laughter. Remus bent lower over his thistles.

"Well, I don't see why I would need those," James leered, leaning closer, "Do you, Evans?" He seemed a little too close for Lily's comfort. His nose was barely half an inch from her own. Out of the corner of her eye, she scoured the room for Slughorn, but he appeared to be preoccupied with one of the Slytherins and was paying no attention.

"I haven't the foggiest," she snapped, dropping the claw on Potters lap, "However, it would be _nice_ if all your belongings remained with you in future." She spun on her heel, ready to charge off, but something caught her arm, making her pause. In front of her, she could see her friends. Gwendoline had put down her cauldron ladle and folded her arms, glaring at the boys with narrowed eyes. Jocelyn was biting her nails nervously.

A noticeable change had come over Potter when he spoke. "Oh come on Evans... Don't go so soon." His voice was almost whining and he seemed irritated.

Her mouth set in a thin line, Lily turned her head just enough to peer at the tips of his messy black hair. "Get your hands off me," she hissed, "Let me go right now or I'll scream and call Slughorn!"

Potter released her arm as if it had scolded him. "Alright… Alright…" he groaned, moving away from her. "Don't get your knickers in a twist, woman…"

Lily didn't move. "What was that?" she demanded.

"Nothing… Nothing…" There was the sound of Potter swinging himself back down on the other side of his desk.

"Good." Lily stomped back to her desk and slammed her hands on the table with a smack. Seizing her book she started to check Severus's instructions again, to the polyphony of insistent fussing from her friends, and finished her potion mercifully free of further kneazle claws.


End file.
